In Pursuit of Peyton Manning, the San Francisco 49ers Show the NFL How It's Done

Considering that the national media was all over the Peyton Manning saga even up to the point of watching his plane take off and land, the news that came out on Friday has to be considered shocking.

It took three full days for the sports world to find out that the San Francisco 49ers were actually the first team to meet with and workout the future Hall of Fame quarterback.

These meetings took place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Durham, N.C.

In doing so, San Francisco showed the entire National Football League how it is done. While the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans were openly vying for Manning, San Francisco was playing it close to the vest. They were, in fact, acting like the Manning of NFL organizations.

The entire point of going to North Carolina in order to meet the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback was nothing more than football related. They wanted to get an idea of what Manning had left in the tank and figure out if he would be a good fit in San Francisco.

The 49ers are handling their business as they see fit in efforts to continually build this team up for now and the future.

There was no fanfare to speak of, Jed York didn't Tweet an interest in Manning, and the PR department was quite about them sending their head coach and offensive coordinator to Manning.

They didn't announce the meeting to a suspecting football world. They didn't attempt to sway him with anything more than an opportunity to compete with a team that was so close to winning the Super Bowl last season.

They didn't attempt to sway him with offers or promises that extend beyond the football world. They didn't utilize the media as a vehicle to make a point. In doing so, San Francisco showed exactly what it meant to be a greatly run organization.

The 49ers didn't throw their current quarterback, Alex Smith, under the bus either. Instead, they made this interest in Manning as quite as possible in this new social media age. The same cannot be said for the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow or the Arizona Cardinals and Kevin Kolb.

In the process, San Francisco came out as the team that was most interested in the football aspect of the game. This is something that I am pretty sure that Manning respected a great deal. After all, he isn't the type that enjoys the media spotlight or acts the part of a diva in front of cameras.

He is a calm, cool and collective individual. This is exactly the way San Francisco has played their cards throughout the process. In the end I have no idea where Manning is going to sign. However, it must be noted that the 49ers are back on top as one of the best organizations in the entire professional sports world.

Business like usual in the face of possibly acquiring one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. If this is the Kool-Aid that Jim Harbaugh and Co. are serving, they can poor me a drink and I will happily down it with a straw in a red Solo cup.